Feb 12 - Shelly Cant

The main purpose of this discussion is to make interested members of the public aware of a very exciting and involved series of projects that will be going on in Nassau with the intention of recruiting anyone interested in getting involved. The Bahamas National Trust will be spearheading some projects that will require the knowledge and expertise of many different types of artists to help make educational and environmentally friendly products. These products will range from environmental art to recycled goods with the long-term goal that a sustainable industry is produced from it. This is where science and art can come together to make progress for the entire country.

Born and raised in the Bahamas, Shelly Cant attended her schooling in England, which led to a degree in Biology with Oceanography from Southampton University. She worked in Florida at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and then came back to the Bahamas where she worked at the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology Commission, Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Center and is now with the Bahamas National Trust as the Educational Officer. Her interests are very broad but always passionate and she continues to pursue a position that would enable her to become a voice for the environment of the Bahamas whilst taking an active role in its conservation.

Feb 19 - John Thompson

Thompson will talk about the upcoming book, "Islands of the Sun", a coffee-table piece depicting the natural glories of the Exuma Cays. Thompson will be discussing the challenges that he and co-author, photographer Nikita Shiel-Rolle are facing in an effort to raise awareness of a unique and beautiful part of the Bahamas. He will then field questions on working in the Exumas, Bahamian natural history, scientifically minded art, or any combination of the three.

John Thompson is a Bahamian born artist who is greatly influenced by the natural history of The Bahamas He's attended the University of Miami, where he worked on the series 'Coastal Plants of the Bahamas', shown at the Kennedy Gallery in 2003. And has also illustrated the series 'Wetland Plants of Cape Cod' when living in Massachusetts. Thompson works in various styles and mediums including landscape canvases and botanical illustrations on paper. He has painted numerous posters, pamphlets and educational materials for the Bahamas National Trust, and is currently working as a part of the Danguillecourt Project.

Feb 26 - Amelia Moore

Amelia Moore is a doctoral candidate in the Anthropology Department of the Univeristy of California, Berkely. She is currently conducting her dissertation research in The Bahamas. Her work centers around environmental, ecological and sustainability research in The Bahamas, and the scientists, teachers, researchers and officials who solicit, design and conduct scientific projects. She hopes to examine and descibe the multiple environemntal imaginaries and scientific productions that coexist and create the ways in which we understand and live in The Bahamas today.

Moore will give a talk and slideshow about her research in The Bahamas to date and give a brief description of contemporary anthropology.

Mar 4 - Michael Stevenson

Michael Stevenson is an Associate Professor in The School of Social Sciences at the College of the Bahamas (COB). He is currently the Head of Department of the University of the West Indies' LL.B. programme at COB. His areas of academic interest include: human rights discourse, issues in law and society, jurisprudence, relations between law, policy and governance, relations between power, resistance and activism and small island sustainability.